How to organize your thoughts when speaking

Summary

This video provides practical tips for effectively organizing and communicating your ideas. It highlights three key strategies: starting with a quote to engage the audience and establish credibility, using intentional visuals to show contrast and change, and ending with a simple action step that encourages consistency. The speaker shares insights from law and management consulting to help you remember your key points, keep your audience engaged, and leave a lasting impression. These methods help streamline your communication, making it more impactful and memorable.

Takeaways

• 💬 The world rewards those who are best at communicating ideas, not necessarily those with the best ideas.
• 📜 Start with a quote to quickly capture attention, establish credibility, and set the stage for your main point.
• 🤝 Using quotes from trusted sources can help align your audience with your message and make them more receptive.
• 🎯 Quotes also act as anchor points, helping both you and your audience stay focused and guide the flow of the conversation.
• 🖼️ Use intentional visuals that highlight change and contrast to make your points clearer and more impactful.
• ⚡ Visuals are processed much faster by the brain than words, making it easier for both you and your audience to remember key ideas.
• 📈 Visual aids showing contrast and change help reinforce decision-making and understanding of concepts.
• 🚀 Make sure to end with a simple, actionable step that your audience can easily take, leveraging human consistency bias.
• 🧠 Simple actions lead to long-term commitment, as people feel compelled to act on their prior commitments.
• 🔗 Organize your presentation with quotes, visuals, and a simple closing action to ensure lasting impact and clarity.

Q & A

What is the main point of the video?

The main point of the video is to provide strategies for organizing thoughts and communicating ideas effectively, using techniques like starting with quotes, using intentional visuals, and ending with simple action steps.

Why does the speaker recommend starting with a quote?

The speaker recommends starting with a quote because quotes are concise, impactful, and get straight to the point, helping to avoid rambling at the beginning of a talk. Quotes also establish credibility and prime the audience for the topic.

How can quotes help establish credibility according to the video?

Quotes help establish credibility because they allow you to align yourself with a known expert, which reduces defensiveness in the audience and makes them more open to listening to your argument.

What does the speaker suggest about visuals in presentations?

The speaker suggests using intentional visuals that highlight change or contrast. These visuals help simplify complex concepts, aid in faster information processing, and make ideas more memorable for both the audience and the speaker.

What are the two key functions of using visuals, according to the speaker?

The two key functions of using visuals are: (1) to help the brain process information more quickly, and (2) to enhance recall because visuals are easy to process and make a lasting impression.

Why is it important to end a presentation with a simple action item?

Ending with a simple action item is important because it encourages the audience to act without feeling overwhelmed. Simple tasks are more likely to be completed, and over time, they can lead to larger commitments through consistency bias.

What is 'consistency bias' and how does it relate to action items?

Consistency bias refers to the tendency for people to want to remain consistent with their prior commitments. If the speaker suggests a simple action item, the audience is more likely to remember and follow through, leading to larger actions over time.

How does the speaker recommend organizing a presentation to avoid getting nervous or forgetting points?

The speaker recommends using quotes to anchor the presentation, visuals to guide both the speaker and the audience, and simple action steps at the end. These elements reduce the need to memorize everything and help the speaker stay focused.

What is the role of change and contrast in effective communication?

Change and contrast are important because they help provide context to the message, making it easier for the audience to understand why something matters. It also makes the argument more compelling by showing the differences and what might need to change.

How can the strategies discussed in the video make a presentation more engaging?

The strategies, such as using quotes to start strong, visuals to illustrate key points, and simple action steps to end, keep the audience engaged by providing clarity, establishing credibility, and making the information easier to remember and act upon.

Outlines

00:00

💡 The Power of Effective Communication

David Perell emphasizes that the world rewards those who are best at communicating ideas, rather than those who simply have the best ideas. The speaker introduces a series of strategies that help individuals organize their thoughts, remember key points, and communicate in a way that leaves a lasting impact. These techniques are drawn from the speaker's experience in law and management consulting and aim to help presenters deliver concise, clear messages that engage their audience from the beginning.

05:02

📜 The Importance of Opening with a Quote

Quotes are a powerful way to kick off a presentation. They are concise, impactful, and can immediately capture the audience's attention, allowing you to skip the common problem of rambling introductions. The speaker highlights three key functions of quotes: they establish credibility by aligning you with trusted voices, they prime the audience for your message, and they serve as a mental guidepost for the presenter. Quotes help establish a positive tone and make it easier for the audience to be receptive to the speaker's points.

👁️ Using Intentional Visuals to Enhance Your Message

Visuals play a crucial role in effectively communicating ideas, particularly when they demonstrate change or contrast. The speaker provides an example of explaining the difference between speed and velocity through visuals, which show how velocity involves direction while speed does not. Visuals help the audience quickly grasp complex ideas, as the brain processes images much faster than words. This section explains that intentional visuals not only clarify the point but also help both the presenter and the audience remember the message more clearly.

🧠 Visuals Aid in Recall and Understanding

Visuals are impactful because they are processed easily by the brain and are memorable for both the audience and the speaker. Even in casual settings without slides, visualizing key concepts in one's mind helps retain information. This approach enhances the flow of the presentation by creating smooth transitions between points and improving audience engagement. The speaker encourages using visuals to reinforce the concepts of change and contrast, which are essential for decision-making and persuasion.

🏁 Ending Strong with a Simple Action Item

To conclude a presentation effectively, it’s crucial to provide a simple, actionable step. Humans are wired to conserve energy, so overly complex action items tend to be ignored. Instead, offering a simple and easy action — such as bringing a reusable bag to the grocery store in the context of climate change — can create a sense of commitment. This commitment, tied to a concept known as 'consistency bias,' makes it more likely that the audience will remember the message and take further actions in alignment with their initial commitment.

🗣️ Organizing Your Thoughts for Lasting Impact

The speaker wraps up the advice by emphasizing the importance of organization in delivering a memorable and effective talk. Using quotes, visuals, and a simple action step ensures that your message is clear, persuasive, and memorable. These tools also reduce the pressure of memorizing everything, helping speakers avoid nervousness or mental blocks. The speaker encourages viewers to use these strategies to make their presentations more engaging and organized, concluding with a call to action to like and subscribe for more content on improving communication skills.

Keywords

💡Quotes

Quotes are brief, impactful statements that help express an idea concisely. In the video, quotes are presented as a powerful tool to begin a talk, establish credibility, and anchor the speaker’s message. The speaker emphasizes how using quotes from well-known figures like Steve Jobs or Aristotle can open conversations on a positive note and guide the audience toward the speaker’s point.

💡Credibility

Credibility refers to the trust and authority a speaker establishes with their audience. The speaker highlights the importance of building credibility through external sources, such as quotes from experts. By aligning with trusted figures, the speaker can overcome initial defensiveness and skepticism, allowing the audience to be more receptive to the speaker’s message.

💡Visuals

Visuals are graphic representations used to convey ideas more efficiently and effectively. The speaker advocates for using intentional visuals that demonstrate change and contrast. Visuals help audiences process information quickly (within milliseconds) and make the content more memorable. For instance, visuals showing the difference between speed and velocity provide a clear understanding without words.

💡Change

Change is a key concept that refers to a transition or transformation in the subject being discussed. The speaker encourages showing change through visuals, as it helps audiences understand the need for action. For example, when discussing the difference between speed and velocity, the visualized change helps the audience grasp the idea of moving toward a goal with direction, not just covering distance.

💡Contrast

Contrast involves showing the differences between two ideas or objects to highlight a point. In the video, the speaker suggests using contrast in visuals to make comparisons clearer, such as distinguishing between speed and velocity. By emphasizing contrast, the speaker helps the audience understand why one option or way of thinking is preferable to another.

💡Recall

Recall is the ability to remember key points during a talk, which the speaker suggests can be enhanced by using visuals. Visuals not only help the audience recall information but also assist the speaker in staying on track without relying on memorization. By tying visuals to the core ideas, both speaker and audience can better retain and retrieve the information later.

💡Consistency bias

Consistency bias is the human tendency to align future actions with past commitments. The speaker discusses how this bias can be leveraged by suggesting simple, actionable steps at the end of a talk. For example, if a speaker encourages bringing reusable bags to the grocery store, the audience may feel a subconscious obligation to continue making environmentally conscious decisions in the future.

💡Action item

An action item is a specific, actionable step that the speaker provides to the audience at the end of the talk. The speaker stresses the importance of giving a simple and achievable action item, like bringing reusable bags, which ensures the audience takes immediate action without feeling overwhelmed. This small step creates a foundation for long-term commitment and engagement.

💡Mental models

Mental models are frameworks or ways of thinking that help people understand and solve problems. In the video, the speaker uses a visual about speed and velocity to explain a mental model related to decision-making. By illustrating these abstract ideas, the speaker makes it easier for the audience to grasp complex concepts and apply them in everyday life.

💡Effective communication

Effective communication is the ability to convey ideas clearly and impactfully, ensuring the audience understands and engages with the message. Throughout the video, the speaker emphasizes the use of quotes, visuals, and structured presentations to make communication more efficient. These tools help overcome common pitfalls like losing the audience's attention or failing to make a lasting impression.

Highlights

The world rewards people who are best at communicating ideas, not those with the best ideas.

Using quotes can help you avoid rambling and get straight to the point in your communication.

Quotes establish credibility, especially when sourced from recognized experts, which makes the audience more open to listening.

Quotes anchor your point, helping both you and the audience stay focused on the core message.

Using visuals intentionally, especially to show change and contrast, can make complex ideas easier to understand.

Visuals help to speed up the processing of ideas, as the brain processes visuals faster than words.

Visuals not only aid audience understanding but also help the speaker recall key points during the presentation.

Organizing thoughts with quotes and visuals helps create a seamless transition from the introduction to the main content.

Humans are energy-preserving creatures, so any call to action should be simple and easy to follow.

Consistency bias can be leveraged by offering small, actionable steps that reinforce your message over time.

Simple actions, like bringing your own bag to the grocery store, can remind people of your broader message and create lasting change.

A strong ending with an actionable step is crucial to leave a lasting impression on the audience.

The combination of quotes, visuals, and action steps helps organize your thoughts and avoid the anxiety of memorizing everything.

The key to effective communication is not just having good ideas, but being able to convey them clearly and memorably.

Visuals and quotes work in tandem to enhance both the delivery and retention of your message.

Transcripts

the world rewards the people who are

best at communicating ideas

not the people with the best ideas david

perrell

who else have the best ideas but feel

like they're not the best

at communicating them i have these

tricks that i learned in law and

management consulting that will

definitely help you

organize your thoughts when you speak

remember what you actually want to say

and really get the point across

in a very effective and eye capturing

way leaving an impression on your

audience so

let's get to them number one is finding

a quote

that expresses your idea votes are

concise they're impactful

and they get straight to the point when

you use quotes to open you skip

all of that rambling at the beginning

where you're trying to find how do i

start talking about this topic you don't

need to do any of that you just

give them the quote and then move on to

the point right how many people

have sat there listening to people talk

for way too long and

lost your interest or how many people

have talked for way too long and

saw the soul of people's eyes just

disappearing

so start with a quote i did this with

this video as well you're still watching

so this is a good sign

let's move on to the second function of

quotes

quotes establish your credibility we are

taught

to be judgmental right we're always

looking for faults

in other people's arguments whatever it

is that they're saying

do we agree do we not agree it's quite

difficult

to start an open conversation

when the other side is very defensive so

by starting with a quote

from someone that they know that they

trust then

you've already aligned yourself to start

from a very

positive position where the other person

is willing

and open to listen to what you have to

say this is

what we do in law this is what we do in

management consulting we always

invite experts so you don't have to

believe me you can believe

whoever it is that has expertise in this

field

this is what i do in my other video how

to articulate your thoughts

i use steve jobs i use aristotle people

very credible with important things to

say and i use them to get my point

across

when you've already established

credibility through others then

the rest of your talk gets so much

easier the third function of quote is

that

it anchors your point you prime the

audience with what it is that you want

to talk about

help them be open to the idea and then

for yourself it's kind of like a

guidepost for you

of where do i go next right you can

transition

from the quote to your main point and

help you remember

the link so once people are hooked then

you want to just get to the point and we

move on to

trick number two which is to use

intentional

visuals this is not any visuals this is

visual intended to show at least one of

the two things

one change and two contrast

let me show you with two examples this

is just aside projects

trying to visualize mental models in a

very simple way so that

even kids can understand and you know

hopefully they'll be curious enough to

find out how to

think better and make better decisions

so

this one is about speed and velocity one

of the most fundamental

mental models and i want to show the

difference

between speed and velocity and also what

happens when you change

right the contrast and the change we see

that speed

is about covering distance whereas

velocity has

direction without using words

i can immediately show someone if

you are currently thinking about speed

you see that you're not really

going anywhere then you might want to

change

and think about things in a velocity

velocity perspective

of thinking with direction showing

change

in contrast is so crucial because

you give context to your point right

think about every time that you've made

a decision every time that something

made you think okay i need to act

it's because it's saying that you need

to change something

and or it's because something compared

to something else

is better or worse right so that's the

change as well as the contrast so why

do we want to put these points in visual

form

there are two reasons for this the first

one is that our brains

process visuals so much faster it's

literally at the blink of an eye

15 13 to 15 milliseconds whereas

for words it takes us about 200

milliseconds

so we need to use so many more words to

get the same point across

over longer time periods whereas having

a visual will get the point across

immediately and whatever it is that you

say will be so much easier for the

audience

to understand that's point number one

and point number two more importantly

is that these visuals actually help you

recall

because they're so impactful easy to

process

not only do your audience remember it

you remember it too so

even if your talk is just casual you

don't need to put anything up on the

powerpoint or whatever it is that you're

doing

that's fine these visuals will actually

help you remember what you want to say

and get the point of the change and the

contrast across

because you actually remember them

instead of trying to remember

bullet points of things that you need to

say

let me know in the comments if you

currently visualize

in this way now you've anchored your

talk you've established credibility and

you have

a very easy transition from the

beginning to the main chunk

of your presentation with just one quote

right

and then you have little recall images

to help you

get your point across in a very

effective way

that works with how we think how we make

decisions which is

showing change and giving the context of

contrast

so now people are going long and they're

buying your argument right you

it's really easy to organize your

thoughts you want to make sure

that at the end you end very strong and

this is where

so many people drop the ball and do not

do that

make sure you end with an action item

and here you don't want to end with just

any action item this is where

a lot of people make the mistake of not

thinking about

their audience right humans we are

energy

preserving creatures we don't want to

use

excess energy for no reason we want to

survive and we want to thrive

so we want to make sure that the action

item we give someone at the end is

very simple and i'll share just in a

moment

how this helps you establish your

credibility

long term as well so first you want to

make it simple let's use the example of

let's say

climate change right this very difficult

issue to resolve with just one simple

action step let's say that you think

um climate change can only be combated

if

people vote for the right leaders who

are committed to this idea

i'm just making this up let's say that's

what you think it's a very

high barrier action step for people to

take right you have to

get out there you have to see which

leaders are interested in you have to go

vote right that's not

the action step you want to leave people

with because they won't do it

instead you want to leave them with

something super simple

like um bring your own bag to the

grocery store

why because humans have

consistency bias that is if we

made a previous commitment to something

we

feel attention every time we don't do it

we feel attention every time we're not

acting to our previous commitments so

let's say you

do um grocery bring your own bag to the

grocery store as your action step

every time that person goes to the

grocery store which is pretty

pretty frequently they will be reminded

or at least there's a chance of them

remembering

your talk remembering how important

combating climate change is right so in

that sense

over time after your talk is finished

you give them just something

enough for them to commit themselves and

feel that consistency bias

to act towards that then once

there are other things let's say in the

news that they're talking about ice

melting you know polar bears not having

ice to stand on to

get fish that they need to sustain

themselves

then they'll be reminded okay i've

already committed

to doing my part in helping combat

climate change it's not a one person

effort and

maybe then i should go out there and

vote right

so in this sense we want to create that

consistency bias

but make it easy enough for people to do

so that

they don't feel overwhelmed then just

say okay i can do it that's the end of

it

and all of the planning and the

organizing you've done

you've lost them at the end right so

make sure it's something very simple for

them to do

and just like that you got your point

across

and has stayed with people over time

and that's really what it's about is

organizing your thoughts in an effective

way

so that you don't end up trying to

memorize everything and get really

nervous and have your mind go blank

just use the quotes the visuals and the

action step

at the end to help you organize whatever

it is that you want to say

if you found this helpful please give it

a thumbs up it will really help

with the algorithm and subscribe if you

haven't already

i have this other video on how to

articulate your thoughts

uh if you're interested and ready to now

make it even more impactful like steve

job does

and i will see you in the next one bye